By Pete Doyon, VP Product Management, Schleuniger, Inc.Using lasers to remove insulation or coatings from electrical wires, catheters and other medical devices is now the norm. There are many benefits to using a laser stripping process for medical device manufacturing. The most important is the highly-repeatable quality that is enabled by the process ...

By Freddie Chan, General Manager, KIC AsiaEliminating defects and fully utilizing equipment are two of the most important areas of focus in electronics assembly. Eliminating defects is important, because poor quality is expensive and a growing segment of the market no longer accepts rework. However, in many assembly operations, equipment ...

By Will Meenan, Kaman Precision ProductsMore manufacturers than ever are requiring sensors for condition monitoring in their machines and processes. New digital signal conditioner technology is now available that simplifies the use of eddy current (inductive) displacement sensors for high precision/high reliability applications. This technology ...

By Dean Solberg, President, Exact MetrologyFor the longest time, CT imaging technology was only available for use in medical settings. Over the last several years, it has found a new home in the world of manufacturing, and is opening up many opportunities never before available.

By Mitch Holtzer, Director of Reclamation, Alpha Assembly SolutionsMinimizing the scrap and waste from electronic assemblies is a top priority for the military and aerospace sectors, where high-reliability is of utmost importance. However, once the decision is made to scrap a quantity of defective circuit boards, such as those destined for an aircraft cockpit, assemblers ...

By Arnd Riekenbrauck, IST METZ GmbHUltraviolet (UV) curing adhesives and resins are often used in complex assembly and manufacturing operations where a controlled cure and immediate handling strength are of prime importance. UV curing has many advantages over more conventional methods of curing. These include fast and reliable curing ...

By Dylan J. Burke, Marketing Coordinator, YeloThe need for faster photonic integrated technology is about to skyrocket. In fact, this market may even become much bigger than anyone is expecting. More people use social media sites and apps to share pictures, videos, live streams, and virtual reality experiences than ever before. Generations after ...

By Stanley L. Bentley, P.E., Senior Technical Advisor, DIVSYS International Permit me a small history lesson from the perspective of an engineer that has been involved with electronic design and manufacturing for over 50 years. I assembled my first electronic project in the fourth grade, and I fabricated my first PCB in graduate school around 1970. Since then, I have been ...

By Brad Heath, CEO, VirTex EnterprisesLeadership psychologist Peter Baeklund posed a question in which a fictional CFO asks his CEO, "What happens if we invest in developing our people and then they leave us?" The CEO answers with his own question, "What happens if we don't, and they stay?"

By Stanley L. Bentley, P.E., Senior Technical Advisor, DIVSYS InternationalLet's evaluate the convolution of the bill of materials (BOM) with all of today's fragmented processes, each with its own jealously protected software. A design engineer (DE) receives a project request to design a circuit. DE opens the schematic capture program and designs the circuit. As part of ...

By Eric Overtone, CEO, Focus EmbeddedAll of us have email inboxes full of spam messages that read something like, "Greetings of the day! So glad to know you are desiring to buy PCB's! We always be with you!" While it's never hard to find a deep discount board shop somewhere, it's far better to find the competent shop to get a prototype ...

By Barry Siroka, Business Development Manager, EpoxySetHigh-tech adhesives are generally very reliable. When used correctly, they can resolve many design issues, saving money, time and effort. However, when issues do occur there are a variety of potential reasons for their failure. Common failures include no adhesion upon cure, reduced adhesive strength ...

By Ed SullivanLight engines up to 48 in. (122.91 cm) long and 15 in. (38.1 cm) wide are lighting up the bottom line of LED light fixture manufacturers that create products such as replacements for fluorescent lighting.

By Stanley Bentley P.E., Senior Technical Advisor, DIVSYS InternationalThis series is about floor level checks that can be performed by a process engineer when they do not have access to lab instruments or the time to send out samples to a qualified lab. In this installment, we will address solder mask liftage, de-lamination and contamination.

By W. Scott Fillebrown, CTO, Libra IndustriesThe last 30 years have borne witness incredible changes in the PCB, the backbone of any electronic product design. Package sizes that we thought were small and powerful are now are considered to be big and clunky. We have gone from big through-hole devices to chip scale leadless devices, even at times ...

Dan Feinberg, Vice President, P. Kay Metal, Inc.If you are part of an EMS company that uses wave soldering, you have already realized that only a small amount of the solder you purchase goes into your assembled device. The vast majority of the solder you purchase becomes solder dross. Most likely you sell it back to either your solder supplier ...

By Stanley L. Bentley, Senior Technical Advisor, Divsys InternationalTo properly test for issues with the through-hole process, it is important to understand how soldering occurs. The simplistic assumption is that machines, such as reflow ovens, wave soldering systems, selective soldering systems (or even people) create a solder joint. They do not. In all cases, these ...

By Mario Klug, Senior Marketing Manager Embedded Boards & Systems, Rutronik Elektronische Bauelemente GmbHEmbedded boards ideally would lower costs while providing more functionality. Motherboards for the consumer market seem to fill this gap, unlike embedded boards, but they lack the longer lifecycles, the support and other features that industrial applications cannot do without. By providing semi-industrial ...

Barry Siroka, Business Development Manager, EpoxySetChoosing the best adhesive can be a complex process. Carefully selecting the correct adhesive for a job will reduce the number of products that need to be evaluated and increase the likeliness of its success. There are many variables to consider and numerous types of chemistries with different capabilities ...